The manufacture of heavy vehicles, such as truck and buses, involves their loadbearing structure being provided with a load surface. The load surface of a truck generally incorporates a wearing layer consisting of, for example, plywood attached securely to the vehicle""s platform. The load surface of a bus consists of a floor which is fitted to the bus chassis and is thereafter covered with carpeting.
Load surfaces are fastened to vehicles by means of various types of threaded connection, e.g. by nut and bolt combinations in predrilled holes or by self drilling, self-tapping screws. Such arrangements are time-consuming in that a large number of bolts or screws are required for fastening the load surface securely to withstand the shearing forces which may occur. In bus assembly, the process is more time-consuming in that the heads of the bolts or screws have also to be filled so that the load surface is even before carpeting is bonded to it.
If the load surface has for any reason to be disassembled, this is also a lengthy procedure in that all the screws or bolts have to be unscrewed before the load surface can be removed from the vehicle""s loadbearing structure.
The holes in the load surface and in the vehicle""s loadbearing structure render these components more liable to, for example, rust attack than corresponding components without holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,575 refers to the fastening of armour plating to military vehicles by means of velcro fastenings. One part of the velcro fastening is arranged on the outer surface of the military vehicle and the other part on a planar armour panel which can thereby be hooked securely to the vehicle. As both parts of the velcro fastening are attached to the outside of the respective surfaces, the fastening is compressed when subjected to high spot-loads. This results in the velcro fastening being crushed, with local loss of bonding capacity.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantages and provide a method and an arrangement for quickly and easily fastening load surfaces to a vehicle""s loadbearing structure in such a way that the fastening is effected without holes and is easy to undo. This object is achieved according to the invention by providing first and second surfaces, respectively on a panel to be attached to a vehicle and on a part of the vehicle to which the panel is to be attached. Each surface has one part of a velcro fastening, the hook part on one surface and the felt part on the other surface, with the areas on the first and second surfaces on which the first and second velcro fastening parts are disposed being situated centrally to each other and being located on the surfaces as to slightly separate the surfaces at the area so that the velcro fastening is not crushed at the areas in the surfaces. Various configurations are disclosed including a recess in at least one of the surfaces which receives the respective one of the velcro parts and the recess separates the surfaces at the areas so that the velcro parts can contact but are not crushed. Various orientations of the velcro parts are disclosed.
Load surface fitting becomes significantly easier if the load surface and the loadbearing structure are each provided with appropriate parts of a velcro fastening. There is thus no need to drill any holes or fasten any threaded connections, thereby saving a great deal of assembly time. In the case of bus floors, filling the heads of bolts or screws is also dispensed with.
To prevent the velcro fastening being compressed at high spot-loads and thereby risking being crushed, one part of the velcro fastening is arranged in a recess either in the load surface or in the loadbearing structure. Alternatively, spacing elements may be arranged between the load surface and the loadbearing structure in such a way that the two parts of the velcro fastening can engage securely but without risking being crushed by high spot-loads.
This type of fastening arrangement can absorb large shearing forces while at the same time simplifying the fitting and any replacement of load surfaces. It also has noise damping properties.
The arrangement according to the invention and further features and advantages of the associated method of assembly are indicated by the ensuing description of an embodiment with reference to the attached drawings.